Coast-to-coast: Wednesday

Out West: San Diego State was not supposed to do this again—not supposed to collect votes in the A.P poll, knock off a string of NCAA contenders and put its name in the conversation with UNLV and New Mexico for the Mountain West title. And SDSU was certainly not supposed to be playing a game with national significance in November. Yet, here they are once again, hosting a surging Creighton team tonight, coming off four straight wins over USC, Long Beach State, Arizona and UC Santa Barbara. Before the game this morning, Mark Ziegler of The San Diego Union-Tribune highlighted the emergence of Jamaal Franklin, a hot-and-cold enigma of a wing who has become a fixture in the revamped Aztec lineup. Franklin could be a key tonight, especially on the defensive end, where the SDSU frontcourt will be called on to slow All-American candidate Doug McDermott, who currently leads the country in Player Efficiency Rating.

In the East: For the past decade, as Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon have roamed the sidelines at Pitt., the Panthers have come to own Southwest Pennsylvania utterly and completely. And the domination has largely come at the expense of one-time crosstown rival Duquesne, who has become somewhat of an also-ran in the Steel City since the turn of the century. The two teams meet tonight at Consol Energy Center (colloquially known around Pittsburgh as The Igloo) to renew the rivalry, and Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette profiled the two sides this morning, with a guard-heavy Duquesne team led by local-product T.J. McConnell playing a talented Panthers squad still finding its footing early in the season.

In the Midwest: Rick Majerus said it was going to be the toughest game of the road trip for the Saint Louis Billikens. And after 40 years in the game, perhaps Majerus knows a thing or two. In its first game as a ranked team in 17 years, Saint Louis lost at Loyola Marymount, the final game of a four-game road trip through greater-Los Angeles. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Tom Timmerman noted SLU had some tired legs, similar to what it showed on a long trip through Canada this summer. And while it was an uncharacteristic night for the Bills, with 11 first-half turnovers, it was LMU’s 61 percent second-half shooting the made the difference. At the end of the game, it was an unusual Rick Majerus box score, with his team scoring 1.10 points per possession—and not even getting a chance in the final minute.

Down South: It has been a while since Wahoo fans had much to cheer about in Charlottesville, but Tony Bennett’s rebuilding at Virginia appears to be turning a critical corner. Led by 18 and 11 from fifth-year senior Mike Scott, UVa. beat Michigan in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Tuesday night. As Cavalier Insider pointed out after the game, Bennett’s team turned up the defensive pressure in the second half, running off a 19-2 spurt to take control.

 

Coast-to-coast Wednesday

In the Heartland: Well that was quick. Four weeks ago the sky was falling for Missouri, with forward Laurence Bowers lost for the season. Yet, as the St. Louis Post Dispatch notes this morning, some previously anonymous Tigers have filled the void, and vaulted Mizzou to a hot start to the season.

Out West: In the antithetical story of the Missouri Tigers, UCLA appears to be in disarray early in the season, with suspensions, undisciplined play and pure ineffectiveness leading to a 1-3 start to the season. As the L.A. Times noted this morning, the Bruins were finally at full strength on Tuesday, but it did not make much difference in a paltry showing against Kansas in Maui.

In the South: Elon may not be the favorite in the Southern Conference—that would be the Davidson Wildcats—but the Phoenix are making waves early, off to their best start in nearly a decade at 3-1. Elon went to Princeton on Tuesday night and knocked off the Tigers, as noted by the The Times-News. Next up for the Phoenix: a trip to NC State on Friday.

In the East: Many Atlantic-10 observers predicted La Salle would struggle this season, perhaps even finishing last in the 14-team league after big man Aaric Murray left Philadelphia for Morgantown and running mate Jarrell Williams graduated. Yet, led by sophomore point guard Tryreek Duran, the Explorers have exceeded expectations this year, with an overtime loss to Villanova on Nov. 15 and two other ealy-season wins. As the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, the latest step came Tuesday night, when Dr. John Giannini’s bunch went to Pittsburgh and gave the Panthers a game, coming within one possession in the final minute. There were no surprises for La Salle—Pitt dominated the dyslexic rebounding total, 42-24, and the Explorers did not do much inside. But even as the backcourt of Duran, Sam Mills and Earl Pettis struggled from three, the Explorers’ defense created 21 turnovers—a sign Pitt fans are longing for the days of Brad Wanamaker.

 

Coast-to-coast: Wednesday

In the East: Xavier senior point guard Tu Holloway may have missed the first game of the season because of an NCAA banning players from playing in two summer leagues, but with 24 points and 6 assists against IPFW on Tuesday night, the All-American candidate didn’t show any signs of rust, as The Cincinnati Enquirer noted.

In the Midwest: In the late game at MSG on Tuesday night, the talk was not only of a talented Kentucky club impressing on a national stage, but also of Bill Self’s Kansas team, and what it might be able to do in a year where their talent does not jump off the page. Well, after a 75-65 loss, The Kansas City Star noted it was a learning experience for the Jayhawks.

In the West: 2011-12 has the makings of a banner year in the Big West, with a Long Beach State team set up for a potential NCAA Tournament run. Yet, the depth of the conference might be an issue. UC Irvine, picked to finish at the bottom of the conference, was tripped up late in a home game against San Jose State, as The Orange County Register noted. If Long Beach has any hopes of making noise with a decent tourney seed, it will not only have to do damage in the Daimond Head Classic in December, but also count on teams like Santa Barbara and Riverside to do their part in raising the conference profile.

In the South: Talent has never been an issue at Memphis, with the Tigers annually among the top teams when Rivals, Scout and ESPN releases its recruiting rankings. Yet, results have lagged behind slightly in the Josh Pastner era. This season may be different, though. As The Memphis Commercial Appeal noted, optimism is high in Western Tennessee these days, after an impressive opener from the Tigers.

 

Why no love for UMass?

I enjoy picking up the annual A-10 season projections, if for no other reason than to see who received the annual proverbial slap in the face—which, it seems, is all the rankings are good for; most teams don’t hang banners declaring them the preseason 4^th best team in the conference.

So, aside from the amusement of not seeing names like Jonathan Holton or Michael Davenport on the list this fall, another line caught my eye: Checking in at 12^th in the preseason rankings were the Massachusetts Minutemen.

On the surface, this may seem reasonable. There is not much hype surrounding Derek Kellogg’s boys, especially after A-10 folk have been burned in recent years by seeing talent like Terrell Vinson and Freddie Riley turn in a string of 5-and-4 games. The larger qualm I have heard, though, has been that Kellogg has issues at the point guard spot.

Yet, taken side-by-side, examine these figures:

Point guard A: Averaged 12.3 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds per game on team that went 6-12 in the ninth best conference in college basketball.

Point guard B: Averaged 9.8 points and 2.8 assists for a team that went 10-8 in the 13^th best conference in college basketball.

Point guard A is Kevin Dillard, whose well-deserved publicity assuaged fears of graduation and a coaching change enough to put Dayton at No. 6 in the preseason predictions.

Point guard B is Chaz Williams, who made the All-freshman team at Hofstra before migrating to UMass this season after Tom Pecora went to Fordham.

Sure, Williams is just 5-foot-9, but the Brooklynite can shoot (38.9 percent from three), distribute (a pair of 10-assist games at Hofstra) and create in the dribble-drive (dropped 20 on George Mason twice as a freshman). At best, he fills a void left by Anthony Gurley and becomes the guy Kellogg trusts with the ball in late-clock situations. At worst, he is what he was as a freshman on a Hofstra team that played into March: An above-average point guard.

So if the hype surrounding Dayton is inflated by bringing in a talented point guard, why doesn’t the same extend to Amherst?

Ah, preseason projections.

 

Coast to Coast: Wednesday

In the East: The offseason was rocky, but expectations are cautiously lukewarm in Foggy Bottom entering the first year under Mike Lonergan. As Elizabeth Taylor of the GW Hatchet noted, Lonergan comes in with a thick playbook and a hands-on approach. He has a talented lineup with Tony Taylor, Lassan Kromah, Nemanja Mikic and the injured Dwayne Smith, and expectations range from as high as No. 3 in the conference to No. 11.

In the South: Central Florida started the 2010-11 season 14-0, the best start in school history. Despite an upgrade in talent, this season may begin on a more troubled note, Illiana Limon of the Orlando Sentinel notes. Five UCF players missed the exhibition opener due to either NCAA or team suspensions, and starting point guard A.J. Rompza remains indefinitely sidelined (Jeff and Marcus Jordan, both better known as sons of Michael, sat out the exhibition; Jeff, a transfer from Illinois, because of an NCAA issue and Marcus because of coach Donnie Jones’ disciplinary measure).

In the Midwest: Sadly, it is too early in the season for fresh links of Charlie Coles press conferences. Yet, Mark Schmetzer’s season preview of the Miami Redhawks for The Cincinnati Enquirer shows a team with a few glimmers of hope for improvement in the Mid-America Conference—provided Coles list of ‘ifs’ go as planned. The surest thing appears to be Julian Mavunga, a 6-foot-8 senior forward who will get the majority of the touches in a developing frontcourt. Aside from that, Coles is still searching, and will have to guide his team through an early slate that includes games with local rivals Dayton, Cincinnati and Xavier.

In the West: It was one of the biggest stories in college basketball season last year, and, for a time, caused as much buzz as anything that happened during the NCAA Tournament. When Brandon Davies left BYU because of a violation of the school’s ossified honor code, it was not just a story on ESPN, but CNN and even “The Daily Show.” But Davies does not harbor any ill will. He told The Salt Lake Tribune’s Jay Drew on Tuesday he was “definitely treated more than fair” by the school. Davies enters a Jimmer-less season at BYU as a preseason All West Coast Conference pick, and hopes to keep his headlines on the court this season.

 

Coast-to-coast: Wednesday

In the Heartland: It is shaping up as a rough year in South Bend. The Irish are young, undersized and sloppy on the defensive end. But they do have the (Tim) Abromaitis touch. As Chicago Tribune Notre Dame scribe Brian Hamilton noted, Mike Brey’s crew, adjusting to new roles, struggled in a win over NAIA St. Xavier University on Tuesday night. Abromaitis had 28, with plenty of trips to the foul line, but the younger Irishmen had trouble holding the smaller, slower Cougars in check—an issue as Notre Dame heads into a season without Abromaitis for the first four games of the season.

In the East: Duquesne is attempting to adjust to life without Billy Clark and Damian Saunders, but Ron Everhart and the Dukes got off to a decent start Tuesday night with a blowout of tiny Millersville. Some items of note: senior Eric Evans had 25 points on 9-12 shooting, B.J. Monteiro shot 8-10 for 19 points and T.J. McConnell had five points with 10 assists. Still, to outside observers, there was not much to learn from the game; it is established that McConnell, Evans, Monteiro and Mike Talley are a formidable backcourt, but the questions come in when Duquesne confronts a reasonable front line (like, oh, say Arizona—who happens to be the first game on Duquesne’s schedule on Nov. 9). On that end, Andre Marhold had five points, three fouls (two in the first 3:48) and a single rebound in 10 minutes, with Jerry Jones being the most effective big man with eight points and five rebounds in 20 minutes. Mamadou Datt, a 6-foot-8 freshman forward, the first man off the bench, had four points, four rebounds and four turnovers in 18 minutes.

In the West: It is a decent sign that the fanbase is energized for the season when 12,978 show up to watch you pummel Davenport. That is what happened in Albuquerque last night, where Steve Alford’s bunch overcame a slow start with a double-double from All-America candidate Drew Gordon and rolled to an easy win. As Mark Smith of the Albuquerque Journal noted, the Lobos have some depth and pieces to make them the favorite in the Mountain West.

In the South: In Starkville, Rick Stansbury is quietly optimistic about the Bulldogs’ chances this season. In a loaded SEC, Mississippi State has the frontcourt to contend with Kentucky, Alabama, Vanderbilt and Alabama. It showed on Tuesday night, with Renardo Sidney, Arnett Moultrie and Wendell Lewis posting double-doubles for MSU. The key for the Bulldogs may be the backcourt, though. And while Dee Bost controlled the point with 10 points and six assists, with running mate Brian Bryant pouring in 21 points on 8-13 shooting, Rodney Hood was just 2-9, and 1-5 from three. Still, it added up to an easy win over Division II Florida Tech.

 

 

Coast-to-Coast: Wednesday

In the Heartland: The Butler Bulldogs have built a decent program at Hinkle Fieldhouse. You may have heard their “Cinderella” story, or watched “Hoosiers” or caught the National Championship game the last two seasons. But Butler’s stranglehold on the Horizon League might not be a vise-grip. Detroit returns all five starters this season after a 17-16 campaign—the first double-digit win season for the Titans since 2003-04. The group includes coach’s son Ray McCallum Jr., a former McDonald’s All-American. The practice roster got even deeper this fall, when Juwan Howard Jr., a 6-foot-6 wing who earned All-Freshman honors at Western Michigan last season, transferred back home. It has not been all roses for coach Ray McCallum Sr., though, as star center Eli Holman (who has led the conference in rebounding the past two seasons after transferring from Indiana) has shown a spotty off-court record. Still, the conference coaches picked Detroit to finish second this season, right behind some team from Indianapolis.

In the East: Jim Boeheim usually has to do some traveling to recruit elite talent, but he received a big gift on Tuesday—a 6-foot-9, 285-pound gift, to be exact. Jamesville-DeWitt senior DaJuan Coleman, considered by many as a top-five center and top-20 overall player in his class, committed to the Orange. As The Post-Standard’s Donna Ditota noted, Coleman announced in the ever-popular high school gym, row of baseball caps, cheering coed scene.

In the South: It takes a lot to get people in Tuscaloosa, Ala., talking about hoops. But, according to Don Kausler of al.com, JaMychal Green and the Crimson Tide basketball team might be able to do that this winter. Green is a preseason first team All-SEC pick, as Alabama is picked to finish fourth in a strong SEC this season.

In the West: Ever since Rick Majerus left town seven years ago (and oh by the way, turned up with a pretty darn good team this year in St. Louis) Utah has struggled to find traction, Tyson Mason of KSL.com notes. Enter Larry Krystkowiak, a former head man at Montana and NBA player. Krystkowiak hopes to give the Utes their fourth winning season since Majerus left, but may be walking into a massacre, with only four returning starters entering Utah’s first Pac 12 season.

 

XU finding its rhythm on and off the court

It has been the familiar refrain so long, the repetition of the names have taken on a rhythmic tone.

Cage, Cole, Doellman.

Stan, Josh, Drew.

B.J., C.J., Derrick.

Big Jason.

Dante, Jamel, A-Tay.

The names Xavier coaches Sean Miller and Chris Mack have rattled off in the Cintas Center press room during a five-year Atlantic 10 regular season title run have been seared into the brains of most Xavier observers.

They know the story, cliché as it may be. The freshman come in, learn from the seniors, see how to hedge a screen and run double ballscreen offense and play the packline in their sleep. Then, magically, before they know it, they are seniors, repeating the same words they absorbed for three years.

It is how college basketball used to work, in the days of short shorts and floppy socks, and in an era when nomadic coaches recruit transient teenagers, it stands as an anachronism to typify the unusual nature of a school of 4,000 undergrads filling a basketball arena with 10,250 people.

Yet, for Xavier, this school that has spent a decade trying to shed the labels placed on it by the national media, it has become the crux of the program.

And in a year in which expectations are higher than any in school history, the first week has been spent establishing not only the rhythm on the court, but the rhythm in the press room.

Kenny, Tu and Andre just does not flow off the tongue right quite yet.

Kenny would be Kenny Frease, the 7-foot center once touted as the highest rated big man to ever commit to Xavier. Frease posted 11.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game a season ago, but was expected to do more this season, with power forward Jamel McLean now playing professionally in Belgium.

Instead, Frease missed the first six days of practice after Mack suspended him for failing to fulfill the responsibilities of a Xavier basketball player.

Some small discourses on leadership and a seat on the bench throughout Xavier’s Musketeer Madness celebration on Saturday later, and Frease returned to practice Sunday afternoon.

Tu would be Tu Holloway, the All-American point guard and reigning A-10 Player of the Year.

Holloway enters the years with hype not seen in Cintas Center since David West left campus. Yet, as a quiet leader he needs a vocal presence beside him to shout pregame mantras and pull teammates out of layup lines.

Perhaps that is Andre—Andre Walker that is. Walker spent four seasons at Vanderbilt, scoring four points per game in 84 injury-riddled appearances for the Commodores, before migrating north to Xavier to battle for the starting spot at power forward this season.

Together, the three scholarship seniors may fill the starting lineup as Xavier finds its rhythm for a grueling early season schedule.

And, in time, may find a rhythm in the press room, too.

 

Coast-to-Coast: Wednesday

In the West: The Pac 12 has gone through multiple changes recently. But if money is any indication—and it usually is—Arizona is turning itself into the runaway class of the conference, with UCLA and Washington as distant also-rans. As Percy Allen of the Seattle Times noted on Tuesday, the Memphis Business Journal’s Jason Bolton looked at the revenues of every team in college basketball. Arizona was fourth in the country behind only Duke, Louisville and North Carolina. UCLA was 20^th and Washington 22^nd. In related news, UCLA is undergoing a season on the road while overhauling Pauley Pavilion into a facility that will generate new revenue streams. (Also of note in the Business Journal article: the nearly $200,000 per player the University of Kentucky spends per season.)

In the South: Down in Davidson, N.C., there is a buzz on campus. Not for the current version of the Wildcats, per se—though coach Bob McKillop has them positioned as the early favorites for the Southern Conference title—but for the most famous non-alumnus in school history. Stephen Curry is back in school, whiling away his NBA lockout by listening to his mother and finishing the classes he left behind to be the No. 7 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.

In the East: Outside Connecticut, many people are looking at the Big East as wide open this season. Cincinnati, coming off a round of 32 appearance last season, is hoping to step into the void. The Bearcats have big man Yancy Gates back alongside senior Dion Dixon and junior point guard Cashmere Wright. Yet, as Bill Koch of The Cincinnati Enquirer notes, head coach Mick Cronin will be looking to 22-year-old sophomore wing Sean Kilpatrick for more of a scoring punch this season.

In the Heartland: If you see Oliver Purnell in the next few weeks, give him a hug. The DePaul coach entered October thinking his team had a chance for relative success this season in the Big East—and for a team that has not won multiple conference games since 2007-08, the relative expectations are fairly low. But the Blue Demons are already the 2011-12 winner for most snake-bitten team, as Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune noted. The latest blow is a season-ending knee injury for 6-foot-8 freshman forward Montray Clemons, coming after DePaul lost Tony Freeland (shoulder) and Macari Brooks (grades). All this after a summer in which highly regarded recruit Shane Larkin reneged on his interest and headed to Miami. Purnell still has sophomores Brandon Young and Cleveland Melvin to build around, but the bench just became a lot thinner, and Purnell’s task a little bigger.

 

Davenport looking forward to 2011-12

Michael Davenport sat on the blue plastic bleachers inside Woodward High School after hitting a handful of midrange jumpers and dishing out the backbreaking assist in a summer league game against a collection of current, former and future Division I players in his native Cincinnati.

He walked past a group of fans in blue Xavier shirts and others in red Cincinnati gear and pulled out a bag with his tag on it—a shiny St. Bonaventure Bonnies insignia.

Davenport believes he will soon have a significant reason to be proud of his ties to Olean, as he heads into a senior year as one of four returning starters for Mark Schmidt.

“We have a lot of talent and are maybe deeper than any of the other teams I have been on so far,” Davenport said.

Alongside conference leading scorer Andrew Nicholson, Davenport figures to be the second option for the Bonnies, who finished seventh at 8-8 in the A-10 a year ago.

The 6-foot-4 lefthanded wing averaged 11.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game as a junior—a year that included the signature moment of his career thus far, when he beat Duquesne with a three-pointer 1.6 seconds before the buzzer.

Around the summer circuit in Cincinnati, observers have been impressed.

“He has gotten much, much better in a hurry,” said Mike Tidwell, a coach in the summer league. “He has a good jumper now. He was always athletic and could defend. But now he has that jumper working and he is one of the best players in the league.”

That is a statement for a circuit that includes more than a dozen players currently playing professionally overseas, a host of current Division I players who grew up in the Cincinnati area like Davenport and the majority of the roster from the University of Cincinnati, Xavier, Miami (Oh.), Cincinnati State and Northern Kentucky University.

Beyond his personal development, Davenport is optimistic heading into the 2011-12 season because of what Schmidt has been able to add at the end of the bench.

Sophomore Matthew Wright will likely step into the starting point guard role vacated by Ogo Adegboye.

But unlike last year, when Wright and forward Marquise Simmons were the only bodies Schmidt trusted for double-digit minutes off the bench, the Bonnies will have a full roster.

Davenport had high praise for the development of Sam de Haas at shooting guard, and liked the prospect of adding junior point guard Eric Mosley (Cincinnati State), junior wing Chris Johnson (Kilgore College), freshman shooting guard Jordan Gathers (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and 6-foot-11 Senegalese freshman Youssou Ndoye (Lee Academy in Maine).

The group of newcomers will join a squad looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 years.

“We have a good foundation,” Davenport said. “I think we can do something special.”

–Doug Tifft